Innumerable different types of engines and drive systems have been developed and the internal combustion engine has been very widely employed for all types of vehicle propulsion. Various limitations and disadvantages of internal combustion engines have been widely publicized in recent years, such as the rapid consumption of irreplaceable fossil fuel and the exhaust into the atmosphere of pollutants which are deleterious to plant and human life.
Many attempts have been made to improve and to replace internal combustion engines for wheeled vehicles, and in this category are to be found steam engines and electric propulsion systems. Although the concept of an electrically driven vehicle is intriguing and has attracted widespread interest, the storage of sufficient electrical power to propel a vehicle such as an automobile at a substantial speed over a long distance, remains a serious problem. Commercially available electrical propulsion systems for wheeled vehicles normally provide only a relatively low speed drive, and in addition, require frequent recharging of the numerous batteries necessarily associated therewith.
The present invention provides an electric propulsion system for wheeled vehicles, such as automobiles and the like, which is capable of relatively long range operation at substantial speeds while being particularly economical of fuel consumption and at the same time being ecologically acceptable.